Erdem Yoruk (University of Koc), The Contentious Politics of the Welfare State in the Global South
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Erdem Yoruk (University of Koc), The Contentious Politics of the Welfare State in the Global South

Class 7: Erdem Yoruk (University of Koc), The Contentious Politics of the Welfare State in the Global South April 15, 2026 This talk examines the changing relationship between welfare, democracy, and authoritarianism in the Global South. Drawing on comparative research on Brazil, China, India, Mexico, South Africa, and Turkey, Erdem Yörük argues that emerging market economies have been developing a distinct welfare regime that differs from the classical welfare state models of the Global North. This regime, which he conceptualizes as the Populist Welfare State Regime, is characterized by the expansion of social assistance under conditions of high informality, weak universalism, and intense political contestation. The talk explores how welfare expansion in the Global South has often been shaped not simply by poverty reduction goals, but by contentious politics and the growing political salience of the poor as both a source of support and a source of threat for governments. In this context, social assistance frequently serves multiple political functions: securing electoral loyalty, managing unrest, and containing insurgency or protest. Combining comparative welfare data, protest event data, and cross-national quantitative analysis, the talk shows that welfare provision can no longer be understood only as a democratizing institution. In many contexts, it has also become a central instrument through which populist and authoritarian regimes govern, consolidate support, and reshape state–society relations. The seminar therefore reflects on what the rise of this welfare regime tells us about the politics of redistribution, democratic backsliding, and authoritarian resilience in the twenty-first century. Recommended readings: Yörük, E., & Gençer, A. Ş. (2022). The Dynamics of Welfare State Regime Development in the Global South: Structures, Institutions, and Political Agency. Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis: Research and Practice, 24(5), 452–472. https://doi.org/10.1080/13876988.2021.2004541 Yörük, E., Öker, İ., & Şarlak, L. (2019). Indigenous unrest and the contentious politics of social assistance in Mexico. World Development, 123, 104618. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2019.104618 Koyuncu, M., Yörük, E., & Gürel, B. (2023). Does violent conflict affect the distribution of social welfare? Evidence from India’s Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. Social Policy & Administration, 57(5), 656–678. https://doi.org/10.1111/spol.12899 Yörük, E., Öker, İ., & Tafoya, G. R. (2022). The four global worlds of welfare capitalism: Institutional, neoliberal, populist and residual welfare state regimes. Journal of European Social Policy, 32(2). https://doi.org/10.1177/09589287211050520 Çemen R and Yörük E (2022) The squeaky wheel gets the grease: Violent civil unrest and global social assistance provision. Front. Sociol. 7:891267. doi: 10.3389/fsoc.2022.891267 Yoruk, E. (2022). The politics of the welfare state in Turkey: How social movements and elite competition created a welfare state. University of Michigan Press. https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.11429032 Yörük E, Gençer Alper Şükrü. The politics of social assistance in South Africa: How protests and electoral politics shape the Child Support Grant. Governance. 2021;34:25–46. https://doi.org/10.1111/gove.12464 Note: For privacy reasons, audience interventions (comments, questions, and responses) have been removed from this recording.